An improved system, method and software program is provided for facilitating the use of components running in a computer network. The improvement provides virtual replication of a distributed directory in a computer system. The system includes at least two servers, each including a processor connected to a network for store, among other things, a partition of information. The partition may be distributed across the network. The memory of the second server can store, among other things, a virtual replica of the partition. The virtual replica includes a filtered view, or subset, of the information in the partition.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for replicating data in a distributed network system, the method comprising the steps of: determining one or more partitions to be replicated into one or more replicas, wherein each partition is a logical construct that is not limited to a single physical location, the replicas being stored on one or more servers; defining a view of specific information in the partitions; and filtering information in the partitions according to the view to create a virtual replica, the virtual replica being stored on a server (virtual replica server) different from the one or more servers; whereby the virtual replica has a copy of information from each partition, but does not have a copy of all the information in the partitions.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein view of specific information is determined by an application using the virtual replica server.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: providing a filter set to define the view, the filter set being an enumerated set of classes and attributes in which the application is interested.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: providing an inbound replication filter for the virtual replica server so that replication events provided to the virtual replica server can be filtered appropriately.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: providing an outbound replication filter process for an intermediate server connected to the virtual replica server, so that replication events to be provided to the virtual replica server through the intermediate server can be filtered beforehand.
6. An inbound replication software process for use by a first server having a virtual replica, the first server being network-connectable to a second server through a replica ring, the process being stored on a computer readable medium and comprising instructions for: creating a filter for information desired by an application utilizing the virtual replica; receiving a plurality of replication events into the first server, the replication events indicating potential changes to the virtual replica; screening the replication events through the filter to determine filtered events, the filtered events being a subset of the replication events; and implementing the changes indicated by the filtered events to the virtual replica.
7. The software process of claim 6 wherein the plurality of replication events are received from an input source local to the first server.
8. The software process of claim 6 wherein the plurality of replication events are received from the second server.
9. The software process of claim 6 wherein the filter selects specific classes of information to be used by the application.
10. The software process of claim 6 wherein the filter selects specific attributes of information to be used by the application.
11. An outbound replication software process for use by a first server being network-connectable to a second server having a virtual replica, the process being stored on a computer readable medium accessible by the first server and comprising instructions for: determining a subset of information applicable to the virtual replica; creating a filter according to the subset of information; receiving a plurality of replication events into the first server, the replication events including changes to data that the virtual replica replicates; screening the replication events through the filter to determine filtered events, the filtered events being a subset of the replication events; and providing the filtered events to the second server.
12. The process of claim 11 wherein the step of determining includes selecting specific classes of information to be used by an application utilizing the second server.
13. The process of claim 11 wherein the step of determining includes selecting specific attributes of information to be used by an application utilizing the second server.
14. The process of claim 11 wherein the step of determining includes selecting specific classes and attributes of information provided by the second server.
15. The process of claim 11 wherein the data is in a partition and the partition and the virtual replica are in a common replica ring.
16. The process of claim 15 wherein the first server also includes a replica in the replica ring.
17. The process of claim 11 wherein the first server includes a virtual replica with an associated input filter and the plurality of replication events are received from an input source local to the first server and filtered through the input filter.
18. A distributed computer system comprising: a first processor connected to a network for executing computer code; a second processor connected to the network for executing computer code; a first memory connected to the first processor for storing a partition of information, wherein the partition is a logical construct that is not limited to a single physical location; a second memory connected to the second processor for storing a virtual replica of the partition, the virtual replica including a subset of the information in the partition; a distributed directory, a portion of which being stored in the first memory and the second memory; and an application capable of accessing the virtual replica in the second memory, the application defining the subset of information in the virtual replica.
19. The system of claim 18 wherein the second memory also includes an inbound replication software process for receiving events from the partition in the first memory and filtering the events according to the subset of information.
20. The system of claim 18 wherein the first memory also includes an outbound replication software process for filtering events from the partition and transferring the filtered events to the virtual replica.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
February 10, 2000
December 30, 2003
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.